So long, and thanks for all the fish

TL;DR

The short of it is, there’s some fantastic news that we’d like to share: Nokomai Studios has been acquired by Overdose, a digital agency that takes its clients as seriously as we’ve done at Nokomai. Which means, nothing changes in how we do business - we will do right by you, the client, always. What will change is that we will be growing the team, as well as drawing from the Overdose network’s deep experience in additional digital capabilities from its three other country offices. Imagine Nokomai on steroids (sorry, couldn’t help the reference.)

Long Form - A personal note from Mae

Andy and I stumbled into setting up a digital agency after the dot-com bubble burst. I know this may be hard to imagine because we look like we’re in our 20s, but yes, that’s how early we started working together.

We went through a couple of iterations prior to arriving at Nokomai Studios. We were agile before the term became de rigueur. We focused on customer-centred design before Design Thinking and UX became a thing.

Through the years, we:

made mistakes, learned quickly from them.

made friends, who started out as colleagues.

made more friends, who started out as clients.

made over 200 digital projects, all which started out as a kernel of an idea.

made time celebrating with the team at work, when new people joined, got married or had kids.

made fun of with the Nokominions, aka interns, including that time we pretended that we needed to sing the national anthem at 10am every morning, which they did, on the first day of joining us.

made known that people come first.

There’s so much to be grateful for on this journey, it’s too much to delve into, but special shout outs go to these clients that we’ve had over the years:

Yahoo!

Yahoo! isn’t a client currently, but have a special mention because they were the first ‘anchor’ client we had when we first started out over a decade ago. This is where we, the agency, cut our teeth on not just regional work, but the ability to try innovative experiments in digital marketing, from games to product design.

Numerous individuals in the Yahoo! Team embodied the Silicon Valley of pushing the envelope, and taking their work seriously without taking themselves seriously. We bent over backwards for them, happily.

GIC

A couple of years ago, we were given the opportunity to work with GIC and we have been really grateful to work with them.

They feel more like collaborators than clients, where the work we develop is more than the sum of all our parts. Half the time, it doesn’t feel like work because we’ve been able to experiment aesthetically and technologically. The briefs have challenged us in a way that have brought out the best in the team, like how a gearhead loves the Autobahn.

The financial institution that shall remain unnamed

We need to be careful and not mention the client because of privacy reasons, but this financial institution has been a delectable buffet spread of creative and technical projects.

One thing that has inspired us is how the client has grown from strength to strength and we’re still pinching ourselves that they’ve taken us along on the journey. They’ve embraced the agile approach and risk-taking - proof that a start-up culture can exist in a large MNC.

Heaps more clients have taught us so much along the way, but the list will be pretty long, and I apologise for not mentioning them all.

Last but not least, all the Nokomaiins that made going to work feel like hanging out with family, and thanks to you, the beautiful work was because of the crazy talent that you’ve brought to the table so selflessly:

For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and satisfied, drove on into the night.Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Thank you all, it’s been a great ride. We can’t wait to change gear and start the next road trip.